THE HOT CORNER
Baseball coverage from the inside Sacramento Prayers and the FBL
By Claude Playball | Baseball Insider & Analyst | Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast
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June 29 July 12, 1998 | Fifty-Five and Thirty-Four | Five All-Stars
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ELEVEN STRAIGHT WINS AT THE ALL-STAR BREAK
Five Sacramento Prayers were named to the All-Star Game and Andretti gets the nod to start for the American League. He will be joined by Rubalcava, Strickler, Medina, and Lozano. Three starting pitchers, the closer, and the third baseman the spine of a team that has now won eleven consecutive games and leads the AL West by ten games entering the break.
The franchise that was seventeen and twenty in May, watching its worst-ever start accumulate, arrives at the midpoint of the season at fifty-five and thirty-four. The two months between those records contain one of the more dramatic turnarounds in recent FBL memory, and the team that produced it has just been formally recognized as one of the best in the game.
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DID YOU CATCH THOSE GAMES? WHAT THE SCORECARDS SAY
@ Vancouver, June 29-30 (0-2)
Strickler opened the Vancouver series on June 29th and walked six batters in six innings a control problem that is unusual for him and that cost two runs, including a Kim two-run homer in the fifth. The offense generated one run off DaVinci and the bullpen surrendered another. Three to one, Vancouver.
June 30th: Espenoza pitched seven innings and allowed four runs Urena's two-run homer in the second and Boemer's two doubles doing most of the damage. Sacramento tied it in the seventh on a Florez two-run homer, took the lead in the eighth, and then watched Gonzalez allow the tying run in the tenth before Caesar hit a walkoff single for Vancouver. Five to four. The winning streak that began on July 1st was preceded by these two quiet, frustrating losses.
vs. Long Beach, July 1-2 (2-0)
Andretti opened July with eight and a third innings against Long Beach, allowing one run on four hits. He threw ninety-five pitches. Lopez hit two home runs and drove in two. Six to one.
July 2nd: One of the more dramatic games of the season. Sato went six and two-thirds innings and gave up two runs. The Diablos tied it in the eighth on a Guerrero homer off Esparza, then took an eight-to-seven lead in the tenth on an Ortiz three-run homer off Medina. Perez entered as a pinch hitter trailing by one in the bottom of the tenth. He hit a three-run walkoff homer off McGee. Ten to eight, Prayers.
vs. Philadelphia, July 3-5 (3-0)
Philadelphia entered the series at fifty-five and twenty-five, the best record in the AL. Sacramento took all three games:
July 3rd: Rubalcava went seven and two-thirds innings and gave up two runs one of them a Thibeault homer in the first. The offense knocked Jang around for six runs in five and a third innings. Six to two. Medina saved his ninth.
July 4th: Strickler threw seven innings of shutout ball, struck out seven, and allowed three hits on Independence Day. The offense gave him five runs Perez with a homer in the second, Shinohara and Florez with RBI doubles in the fourth. Five to nothing. The best team in the AL couldn't score against Strickler on the holiday.
July 5th: A ten-inning affair where Espenoza went six and two-thirds innings, gave up two runs, and left with a lead that Gonzalez surrendered in the eighth. Garcia, the reserve second baseman, drove in the walkoff run in the tenth with a single off Martinez. Four to three, Sacramento, made it five consecutive wins.
vs. Nashville, July 7-9 (3-0)
Three games, three wins, Andretti reaching ten victories on the season. He allowed one run in six and a third innings on July 7th while Mollohan drove in four runs a four-RBI outing from a right fielder who entered the game with seventeen career RBI in 1998. Ten to five, but Prieto's two-thirds of an inning in relief allowed four runs, so the margin was required. That line four runs from Prieto in two-thirds of an inning is now a recurring entry in the season log.
July 8th: Rubalcava threw seven and two-thirds shutout innings. Cruz drove in two with a first-inning triple. Three to nothing. Medina saved his tenth.
July 9th: Strickler pitched five innings, Choi went four for four, and Sacramento scored nine runs. Eight straight wins.
vs. Brooklyn, July 10-12 (3-0)
Brooklyn is fifty-four and thirty-five, second in the AL East, a legitimate postseason contender. Sacramento swept them:
July 10th: Espenoza threw eight shutout innings against the Priests. He allowed four hits, walked two, struck out three, and produced one of the cleanest complete outings of his season. Florez hit a two-run homer in the sixth that provided the margin. Four to nothing.
July 11th: Sato allowed three runs in seven and two-thirds innings, including two Bocanegra home runs, and left with the game tied at three. Benson entered and pitched one and a third innings without allowing a run for his sixth win. Sacramento scored four in the seventh and eighth Shinohara and Lozano homering in the seventh, Cruz with a three-run shot in the eighth. Seven to three. Ten straight.
July 12th: Andretti went five and two-thirds innings, gave up one run, and won his eleventh game. Esparza held two clean innings. Gonzalez held a third of an inning. Medina saved his eleventh. Two to one. Eleven straight wins by the Prayers. Chavarria was injured running the bases and is listed day-to-day with a back stiffness.
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THE ALL-STARS
Andretti will start the All-Star Game for the American League. He is eleven and three with a 2.37 ERA, the best mark in the entire FBL entering the break. He is thirty-seven years old in the final year of his contract, and he is the best starting pitcher in professional baseball right now. The award conversations that begin after the All-Star break will have his name at the top.
Rubalcava is eight and four with a 3.08 ERA and one hundred and one strikeouts. Strickler is seven and five with a 3.06 ERA and ninety-seven strikeouts. Together, those two pitchers bookend what has become the deepest rotation in the league, with Andretti at the top and Sato and Espenoza filling out the back. All five starters are scorching hot. That does not happen very often in April, that does not happen very often at all.
Medina has eleven saves in twelve opportunities. His ERA is 3.26, which is not as clean as the early-season number, but the July 2nd walkoff sequence three runs allowed in the tenth is the primary source of that inflation. His overall profile remains that of an elite closer.
Lozano is the position player representative. He is hitting .281 with twenty-two home runs and sixty-three RBI, which puts him in the top five in the AL in each of those categories. A thirty-first of July trade deadline is approaching. If the front office were to add anyone, it would likely be to complement what Lozano and this lineup have already built a credible offensive weapon around a pitching staff that is already the best in the league.
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THE INBOX
From Tunde Adeyemi of Sacramento's Arden-Arcade neighborhood, a financial advisor, who asks: "Five All-Stars. Is this the best team in Sacramento's history?"
The 1995 and 1997 championship teams finished with better records than this one projects to finish, and both had rosters with more depth across the lineup. What this team has is the single best pitching performance of any Sacramento staff in the years I've covered them. Andretti leading the FBL in ERA while Strickler and Rubalcava occupy the fifth and third spots in the same ranking is unprecedented. Whether the offense sustains enough to carry it to a championship is the unanswered question.
From Gabriella Marchetti of Sacramento's Land Park neighborhood, a veterinarian, who asks: "Prieto's ERA is 12.60 in his last twelve games. How is he still being used in important situations?"
He shouldn't be, and the data has been saying that for two months. The practical answer is that the bullpen has limited options when both Medina and Gonzalez are unavailable. Lawson has been solid. Esparza has been useful. Musselman has contributed. But when those three are unavailable in a given game and Aces turns to Prieto, the results follow a consistent pattern. The front office needs to address this before October.
From Nils Bergstrφm of Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood, a civil engineer, who asks: "Ten games up on San Jose. Is the division race over?"
Effectively, yes. San Jose has forty-four wins with seventy-three games remaining. They would need to go roughly fifty-three and twenty an enormous pace while Sacramento simultaneously faded below five hundred. Neither is happening. Sacramento can manage this lead through sound baseball and occasional stretches like the past eleven games. The real race now is seeding. Philadelphia and Brooklyn are the top two AL East teams. Detroit and Charlotte are locked in the Central. The ALCS opponent matters, and that is where the second-half attention should go.
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Portland for four games starting July 16th, then San Jose series at home July 21st. The eleven-game streak travels to the same ballpark where Sacramento was no-hit in April.
Fifty-five and thirty-four. Eleven straight victories. The All-Stars play Tuesday.
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Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.